


Hollow

by myrinas_webbe



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Drama, M/M, Romance, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 16:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4187364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrinas_webbe/pseuds/myrinas_webbe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Batfam Christmas Exchange 2013: Dick finds a post-grave but Pre-Lazarus resurrection Jason during his raid on a suspected child-prostitution ring in Bludhaven. He brings him back to his apartment and agonizes of what to do with his new found discovery. Chapter Two on will occur in the timeline after Jason goes into the Lazarus Pit and returns to Bludhaven as the Red Hood, with the memory of Dick saving him lost. [Repost with new chapters coming.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hollow

Title: Hollow  
by myrinas_webbe

Summary:  
Written for the Batfam Christmas Exchange 2013: Dick finds a post-grave but Pre-Lazarus resurrection Jason during his raid on a suspected child-prostitution ring in Bludhaven. He brings him back to his apartment and agonizes of what to do with his new found discovery. Future chapters will occur in the timeline after Jason goes into the Lazarus Pit and takes on the persona of Red Hood.

 

Notes:  
Written for: Mizzykitty (iamjasonssmirkingrevenge) who wanted: "Post-grave, pre-Lazarus pit, brain dead Jason is wandering the streets as a homeless boy and gets picked up by someone who starts pimping him out. One day, Nightwing goes to raid a place suspected of human trafficking and prostitution, and finds him. Jason's injured and people have obviously not been kind to him. Cue Dick taking care of him and trying to rehabilitate him. Heartbreaking angst, pls!"

A huge thank to Mizzykitty for the awesome prompt! Though there was not much slash, I hope it was okay. :)

(I have decided to turn this from one-shot into a multi-chapter story where Jason returns post-Pit.)  
Hollow

Chapter 1: Found

Bludhaven was no beauty. Not by any stretch of the imagination. If cities were women, Gotham would be an aging socialite, masking her years with expensive surgeries and hiding her faults with skirts that lifted and hugged in all the right places. She would wear last year’s shade of lipstick but she would wear it well and with a practiced smile. But Bludhaven? Bludhaven would be the girl who was tossed out onto the streets before she was even old enough to drive, turning tricks to keep a meager meal in her stomach and liquid bravery in her veins. Bludhaven let all her wrinkles and blemishes show through her cheap make-up and didn’t care that her blouse was torn or that her heel had been glued on one too many times to stick anymore. Gotham was in denial that her heyday was long over; Bludhaven let everyone know she never had one.  
Bludhaven was no beauty. And neither were the crimes that plagued her.

  
‘You ready, Hunk Wonder?’

  
A familiar grin flashed across the masked figure’s face, though for once, the bravado that usually fueled it was missing. ‘Born ready, Beautiful.’  
And he was born ready. Bludhaven’s warden. Her self-appointed savior. While Gotham was furtively courted by her dark, mysterious guardian, Bludhaven reluctantly allowed her keeper to protect her, like an alley cat would the runt of the litter. She was no prize.

  
Except to Dick Grayson, former sidekick to the Bat.

  
Nightwing reached up and switched on the infrared lenses in his mask. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, readying them for the abrupt change in light. When he opened them again, he could see several glowing forms populating the decrepit building. Some were moving about the rooms, and others were stationary. He watched as the thermal images around some of the figures grew hotter, his stomach suddenly churning with the knowledge of what they were doing. Of why he was there. He had busted child prostitution rings before with Batman. More times than he’d care to remember. The first had been the roughest for him because despite Bruce’s stilted attempts to prepare him for what he would see, the agony that radiated from the eyes of the victims still haunted him. Even now. They had saved many kids, some whose meals came from dumpsters on the streets, some whose came from fashionably designed kitchens in cookie-cutter suburban homes. But they could never undo what h ad been done to them.  
And that had always haunted Dick.

  
So, yes, he was ready. He had busted up rings like this before. But he had never busted an operation in progress. Not when the buyers were there testing their goods.  
And never alone.

  
‘Nightwing?’

  
Dick swallowed hard, trying to wash down the bile that had risen in his throat. ‘Yeah?’

  
‘You sure you—‘

  
‘I’m ready, O.’ He abruptly cut off. ‘Let’s do this.’

  
A deep sigh whispered in his ear from the com. ‘Okay. The fire exit by the south set of stairs is open and unmanned. There are two goons in the lobby and two more on each floor.’ Barbara informed, a sudden softness to her voice. ‘Good luck, Short Pants.’

  
The old moniker brought a grin to the young vigilante’s face. ‘Don’t need it when I have you.’

  
And with that he shot a line to the roof of the old tenement across from him. He was in one of Bludhaven’s seedier sections, though, as Nightwing was learning, not an uncommon one. Decrepit buildings like this lined the streets, long removed from their heyday and left out like garbage rotting in the summer sun. A city like Bludhaven didn’t spend its money on renovating apartment buildings for the poor, even though they made up a large portion of the population. Instead its money lined the pockets of well-fed bureaucrats.

For once, Nightwing was thankful for that. Shoddy workmanship meant easier access and less hassle getting himself inside. Once he landed effortlessly on the roof, he quickly scaled his way down to the south side fire exit, making short work of the locks on the windows. Though he had always been the dawn to Batman’s night, the brightness to his mentor’s abyss, he had learned one thing well. To be efficient and silent when needed.

  
And to be himself even when not.

  
‘Here’s your coffee, man.’

  
Nightwing spotted the two guards immediately, watching as the smaller one walked down the hallway balancing two steaming cups in his hand.

  
‘Yeah, thanks. Did you remember the sugar this time?’

  
‘Uh-huh.’ An amused voice answered behind them, causing the men to swing around. ‘Did you want one lump…?‘ The swish of an escrima stick followed by a distinct thwump filled the air. ‘Or two?’

  
Both landed on the floor with a loud thud. ‘Two, then.’ Nightwing grinned and bound each set of wrists and ankles with his specialized zipties.

  
In a matter of minutes, the vigilante had secured the building, taking down the traffickers and their muscle. Now he just had the task of sorting through the scared victims, staring at him wide-eyed with disbelief and uncertainty. Many had only the barest of clothing to cover themselves and the marks on their bodies that bore testament to the brutality they had suffered. Dick fought hard to bury his rage at what each lash, each bruise, represented.

  
‘You there, N.?’

  
Nightwing nodded as he reached for what looked like a clean sheet and handed it to a petite girl with dark hair and dark eyes. ‘Yeah, O.’ He reached up and switched on the live-feed in his mask. ‘You ready?’

  
‘As I’ll ever be.’ The red-head breathed out. ‘Scanning now for identification. Okay, first match. The girl wrapped in the sheet? That’s Maria Gutierrez. Age sixteen. She’s been missing for almost four months.’

  
Nightwing nodded and tapped the com in his ear. ‘Got it.’ He held out his hand to the trembling girl. ‘Maria?’

  
The girl nodded and took a tentative step forward.

  
‘You’re safe now. We’re going to get you some place warm, okay?’

  
She nodded again.

  
‘This is everyone, right?’

  
This time he got a shake of the dark locks. The girl pointed to the floor. ‘T-The pit.’

  
Dick’s brows furrowed. He thought he had gotten all of the kids. ‘The pit?’

‘The cellar.’ Another girl added. ‘It’s...I-I’ve never had to go down there, but...'

  
‘Hey, O, need you to take a pic for the idents. I need to check something out.’

  
‘Will do. Leave on your feed, though, in case you need anything.’

  
Dick didn’t answer, already rushing to find the door to whatever awaited him below. From the look on the others’ faces, it was worse than the conditions upstairs. And if it was worse...the young hero shuddered. He knew it had to be horrific.

  
It took a few minutes to work his way through the wandering passageways carved into the rudimentary cellar that sprawled beneath the whole building. There in a back room he found the last victim, blindfolded and bound to the exposed pipes jutting out above what looked like might have been a mattress at one point in its life. Unlike the others waiting upstairs, this victim was different. This one didn’t react when he walked into the room. This one didn’t have the same fear that pervaded every inch of the others. The same sense of relief coupled with shock and confusion. This one had no response, no anything to the young vigilante, though it was clear his presence was known.

And this one was no female.

  
Dick closed his eyes for a few moments, trying not to think too hard about what it must have meant to have been the only boy. And exactly why he was bound naked in this freezing cellar.

  
The blue and black costumed hero knelt beside the well-worn mattress, trying hard not to see the stains that darkened the frayed threads. He didn’t want to think about just what the dried stains were, although there was no mistaking the recognition of the dark streaks down the middle. Dried blood. And, though Dick knew to expect it, fresh. So thick and congealed in some places that it was bubbling up from the saturated threads. A low, guttural groan brought him out of his horrified daze and back to the present and the boy still bound in the pit.

  
‘I’m sorry.’ Dick murmured, shaking his head. ‘I’ll have you free in just a sec, okay?’

  
He wrapped his gauntleted fingers around the boy’s wrist, gingerly holding it still as he sliced through the rope. ‘You’re safe now.’ He assured, trying hard to push an impassiveness into his voice as Bruce would have done. As Bruce had always done. Once the rope gave way, Dick leaned over the gaunt figure and worked on the other wrist. ‘What’s your name?’

  
‘He doesn’t talk.’

  
Dick drew his eyes to the side, seeing Marie standing in the doorway. ‘He doesn’t?’

  
The girl shook her head, a few stray strands of her curls escaping from the bobby pin that held them back. ‘Not much.’

  
Dick reached behind the boy’s dark head and worked to untie the blindfold. He tried hard not to focus on the mottled bruises and angry scars that decorated the his fair skin.

‘You’re safe.’ He repeated again as the knot began to give way. ‘I’ll get you out of—‘

_**What the hell?** _

Dick nearly toppled back when green eyes blinked and struggled to focus in the scanty light before turning to meet his own. Familiar green eyes. Green eyes that had danced with a cocky assuredness as they sized him up. Green eyes that had laughed mockingly behind a lensed mask during an intense game of hide-and-seek through Gotham, Batman style. Green eyes that had lit up as they recognized the red and yellow uniform sitting in a gift box. Green eyes that had stared out at him frozen above the newspaper obituary about the untimely death of Bruce Wayne’s adopted son.

  
‘Holy....’ He immediately reached up and shut off the camera feed in his mask.

  
‘—one more and I’ll be, hey! You went dark, N. You okay?’

  
‘Feed went down for a second.’ Dick quickly lied, the words nearly catching in his throat.

  
‘His name is Wayne.’

  
Dick swung around, lips parted in shock. ‘What?’

  
‘Don’t have a Wayne listed as being missing.’ Oracle informed in his ear. ‘Can you get the feed up again and get a shot of his face for me?’

  
The girl shivered beneath the meager covering. ‘H-His name is Wayne.’ She timidly repeated. ‘That’s…That’s what we call him anyway. He never really told us himself.’

  
Bright eyes narrowed sharply beneath the white lenses of the mask. ‘Are you sure it’s Wayne, then?’

  
Maria shrugged. ‘That’s all he would say when he first came.’ She looked down, watching as she idly twisted the corner of the sheet in her delicate hands. ‘We figured it’s his name. He responds to it, you know?’

  
‘What else do you know about him?’

  
The girl shrugged again, causing the sheet wrapped around her to slip a little. ‘Not a lot.’ She truthfully answered. ‘Um, think he was a street kid when Ray found him, you know?  
A gloved finger reached up and shut off the mic in the com. Dick then tentatively leaned forward, close to the boy’s ear. He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

‘Bruce.’ He whispered.

The green eyes immediately snapped into focus. ‘Bruce.’

Bright eyes closed behind the mask. ‘Oh, _**fuck**_.’

  
‘Y-You know him?’ Maria asked, surprised.

  
The young vigilante slowly rose to his feet. ‘You should go upstairs with the others.’ He quietly suggested. ‘The police will be here soon. They’ll take you...they’ll take care of you.’

She nodded but hesitated. ‘Wayne?’

  
‘I’ll make sure his…parents are found.’

  
Another nod. And a hint of a smile. Dick forced one in return before turning his attention back to the figure huddled before him.

  
‘Jay?’

  
This time he got nothing. Dick shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Oh, man. This is...this is... _shit_.’

  
He had a few options here. Tell the police. Tell Barbara. Tell Bruce. He scoffed as he shook his head. ‘That would go well, huh?’ He wondered out loud. ‘You know the son you buried? The one you…‘ Dick shook his head before he finished his thought. The one you replaced me with. The one I had to find out about in the papers. The one the Joker killed. The one you were too late to save. The one you buried? Yeah, I’m staring at him right now. ‘ ** _Shit_**!’

  
‘Nightwing, you had better answer me right now! I’ve been trying to—‘

  
‘Just tying up loose ends, O.’ He replied, switching the mic back on. ‘No need to get a bat in your belfry. Debrief in an hour. N. out.’

  
Dick finally shook his head one final time and reached down, grasping a hold of the frail body still lying on the mattress. He carefully slung the boy over his shoulder and drew in a deep breath. ‘Alright, kiddo.’ He said as he made his way to the window. ‘Looks like I’m gonna have someone to talk to other than the rats...’

  
x.X.x.

‘So, it’s, uh, not much...but home sweet home and all that.’ Dick awkwardly introduced before reaching up to rub the back of his neck. ‘There aren’t too many nice places in the ‘Haven. Plus I don’t want to stand out. Not like…’ Another uncomfortable pause. Jason hadn’t said a word yet, simply mimicking Dick’s movements as they made their way through the skylight and into the main room of the older one’s apartment. ‘Anyway, I’ve got a halfway decent TV. You have to kick it every now and then if you want any of the stations from Gotham. And the bathroom is…well, maybe I should clean it up a bit first. Wasn’t expecting company, you know?’

  
Jason said nothing. Barely even blinked through the older one’s nervous babbling.

  
‘You can take the bedroom.’ Dick continued as he pointed towards the door in the far corner. ‘I spend more nights out here on the couch anyway, so I’m used to it. Fall asleep on it with a quart of double-chocolate chip mint for dinner because Alfred wouldn’t ever let me do that at the Manor, heh.’

  
Again, nothing. Dick sighed as he put his hand on the other boy’s shoulder and gently nudged him forward. ‘Maybe you’d like a hot shower?’ He hopefully suggested. ‘Always helps me when I...’

When you what, Grayson? Come back from the dead and are forced to be someone’s personal fuck-toy for God knows how long? Yeah...this was a brilliant idea. What the hell had he been thinking? How could he handle this alone? This was way more—‘

  
‘Shower.’

  
Dick snapped his head up, startled out of his self-tirade by the hoarsely whispered word. ‘What?’

  
‘Shower.’

  
Dick nodded emphatically. ‘Yeah, yeah...here, I’ll show you where it is, okay?’

  
The dark head meekly nodded. Dick shuddered to see it. Meek was something Jason was definitely not. What the hell had happened to him? How was he here...here in Bludhaven of all places? How was here when he was supposed to be in a casket six feet below the frozen ground in a plot in Gotham beside the Waynes and Dick’s own parents?  
Jason stopped outside the shower door, staring aimlessly at his reflection in the glass. Dick cleared his throat before reaching for a towel on the rack behind him.

  
‘Um, I think this is clean?’ He tossed the towel to the boy who caught it reflexively but continued to stand there staring straight ahead. Dick craned his neck to see the younger one hauntingly staring at his own reflection in the glass, a look of confusion on his face. He slipped around him and opened the shower door, turning on the steady stream of water before he turned back to Jason. ‘Guess we’ll get you cleaned up now?'

He asked, at a loss. Jason wasn’t moving. Wasn’t doing anything except…existing. Breathing. Standing. Staring. The older one drew in a deep breath and carefully helped the smaller boy out of his meager clothes so that he was just left in his underwear. He quickly stripped down to his own boxers then stepped into the shower, leading Jason’s shorter frame in front of him. The boy didn’t move at all, remaining rooted to the tiled floor as the torrent of water pelted against him. Dick quickly shut the glass door, closing his eyes for a moment as the steam washed against his exhausted frame.

  
‘Too hot?’ He asked, cocking his head to the side to catch a response. Any response. But there was none. Green eyes stared dully ahead, seemingly oblivious to the figure behind them.  
Dick sighed as he reached for the bottle of shampoo, tipping it so that a small amount drizzled into his palm. He hesitated for a moment before he let his fingers take hold in Jason’s dark locks, gently massaging them as he built up a thick lather. He felt Jason’s frame freeze as soon as his fingertips began to move but then slowly become lax once again.  
Then he felt it. The ridge along the back of the other one’s head. The jagged bump. As if—

  
A crowbar?

  
Dick swallowed hard. Was this a healed fracture?

  
‘Under the water.’ The older one suddenly urged as he positioned the shorter frame so that the hot stream washed away the lather. ‘Okay?’

Again nothing. Dick didn’t know if it was from shock or if they had drugged the boy. His pupils reacted to light but there was no fire behind them. No hint of recognition. No hint of _anything_.

  
And that scared the former Robin more than he was willing to admit to himself.

  
What the hell had happened to this kid?

  
Dick took the soap next, gently rubbing it down Jason’s arms, paying careful attention with the raw skin around his wrist. Next was his back, marred with bruises and long, jagged scars.

  
From an explosion?

  
It was him, wasn’t it? But how? How—

  
‘Hot. **_Hot_**!’

  
Dick jerked his head up at the croak that escaped the younger boy’s lips.

  
‘Sorry!’ He quickly scrambled to flip the handle off. ‘Here, come on. Let’s get dressed, okay?’

  
Soon, the older one led Jason to the foot of the bed, his frail frame buried somewhere beneath some old Hudson University sweats and a T-Shirt. Dick sat him down on the edge, then squatted and balanced his weight on his haunches, peering up to get a better view of the haggard face.

 

‘What...um....how...?’ Dick stopped and drew in a deep breath. This loss of words was unusual for him. But then again, so was finding his dead brother tied up in a basement in a tenement in downtown Bludhaven. ‘Jason...what happened to you? You were…’

Dead. Buried. Forgotten, is what he doesn’t want to say. Sure, there was the case. The macabre monument to Jason in the Batcave. His uniform the same design as Dick’s suspended behind a thick layer of glass. But Dick was more convinced it was more a reminder to Bruce of his ultimate failure than it was of Jason’s short stint as his sidekick.

  
‘Bruce.’

  
Dick snapped out of his thoughts at the mumbled name. There it was again. Wayne. Bruce. Bruce Wayne.

  
‘Bruce.’ Dick repeated, trying to catch any sense of recognition in those eyes. But the boy’s eyes were so ...hollow. So unlike the fire that Dick felt burn even behind the white-lensed mask of Robin. ‘I know it’s you, Little Wing.’ Dick continued, unabated by the fact that his conversation was almost entirely one-sided. ‘I just ...I just know. But I need to be sure, you know? Always go with the evidence even above your instinct, right? Guess Bruce has rubbed off on me more than I thought…’

Bruce. Again. Dick suddenly wondered if he knew, if he had any idea...

‘Does Bruce…?‘

  
But Dick cut himself short. Of course Bruce didn’t know. He wouldn’t have allowed this to have happened to one of his own. The younger man’s stomach suddenly twisted into a tight knot.

  
At least he hoped so.

  
‘Look, just...just get some sleep okay?’ Dick said as he stood and pulled back the covers. He tucked them around the shuddering figure before heading for the door. ‘I’ll be on the couch if you need anything.’

  
Nothing. Nothing at all. Dick sighed as he switched off the tattered lamp in the corner. ‘Sleep tight, Little Wing.’

  
x.X.x

  
Usually after a particularly hard night, Dick dreamed. Vividly.

  
This night, his dream was strangely…pleasant. More than pleasant, actually. He was stretched out on his back, lying on what felt like a plush cloud. When he turned his head, he could see what looked like silk sheets beneath him. Pristine silk sheets, enveloping him and running across his scarred skin like the a hundred soothing little fingertips. A gentle pressure held him down, and not in a bad way. Although Dick wasn’t one to admit it, he enjoyed when his partner in bed showed him a bit of dominance. Perhaps it reminded him of someone. Perhaps not. He didn’t want to delve too deeply in those thoughts.

  
Lips were on him. And not just anywhere. Dick heard a soft groan escape his lips as the sensation of warm, wet pressure enveloped his swiftly growing erection. He began to pant, writhing against the silk, trying to reposition himself so that his shaft was covered completely by the hot cavern struggling to contain it.  
It was when he heard the other’s moans that it registered in his head. He was dreaming.

  
Wasn’t he?

  
Dick’s eyes flew open when he felt the press of fingers against his hip. He looked down in horror to see his sweats pulled down to his knees and a dark head bobbing between them. Who ...oh, shit. Shit, shit, **_shit._**

  
Jason.

  
‘Stop!’

  
The boy didn’t respond. He just kept moving up and down, tip to root, tongue expertly tracing each bump and groove along the other’s now pulsing shaft.

  
‘Jason! Jason, _**STOP**_!’

  
Dick sprang from the couch, struggling to find his balance as the sheets twisted around his lithe legs. ‘Shit.’ He muttered, scrambling to pull up his boxers and sweats. ‘Shit!’  
The boy lifted his head, cocking it to the side, a look of confusion overtaking the hollow eyes.

‘No…no, no, _**no**_ —Jason…what are you doing?’

  
There was a chaotic fear now in the boy’s eyes. Had he done wrong? Dick read it instantly, sickened as he realized what was playing through Jason’s damaged mind.  
‘You don’t have to that, Little Wing.’ He murmured as he reached out and drew the younger one into his arms. ‘Not anymore, okay? No one...no one will make you do that again.’

  
‘You...save ...me.’

  
‘Because we’re family, little brother.’ Dick gingerly tightened his embrace. ‘That’s what families do. Even ones as messed up as ours. You don’t...don’t thank me that way. Don’t do that again. Not for anyone. Not until you’re—‘

  
What? Dick thought. Older? Stronger?

  
_In your right mind_?

  
‘Go back to sleep, okay? We’ll ...figure things out in the morning.’

  
The boy hesitated for a minute then nodded. Dick nearly smiled. Nearly. An actual response, he thought. Maybe he was getting through. Maybe. He watched as Jason headed back into his room and curled up under the worn blankets. He grabbed his own blankets off the floor and settled uneasily back onto his couch. It took a while before he at last found sleep again.  
Until he was ripped from it unexpectedly once again.

  
The raspy sounds of cries erupting from a raw throat threw Dick into consciousness much sooner than he expected. He bolted upright on the couch, his warm chenille blanket tumbling to the floor. He ran into his bedroom still half asleep, surprised to see Jason sitting up in his bed.

  
Then he remembered. The raid. Jason. What had happened on the couch. Dick suddenly felt sick.

  
‘You okay?’

  
Jason stared right at him, the look of fear in his eyes washing away.

  
‘Dick-face.’

  
Dick felt his heart clench in his chest. It was Jason’s nickname for him when he had first encountered his street persona. His actual identity.

  
_I don’t even know your name._

  
_Jason Todd. Don’t forget it. I plan on breaking all your old records, Dick-face*._

  
‘Dick-face.’

  
‘That’s me, Little Wing.’ Dick said, trying desperately to bury the tears that suddenly welled behind his bright eyes. This was Jason. It was. He didn’t know how or why, but this was his little brother. The one he failed. The one Bruce failed.

 

More than either one could ever imagine.

  
Dick quickly slipped onto the bed, taking the boy into his arms. Jason nodded once then curled up against Dick, tucking his dark head under the older one’s chin. Dick could feel his breath evening out as the frail boy nestled closer against his bare chest.

  
‘Dick-face save me.’

  
Dick let the tears fall this time. He didn’t know how long. He didn’t know where they came from or why. He just knew the grief he felt strangling his chest and aching in his heart. Whether it was for Jason’s death, for his life now, for Robin’s death...he didn’t know. For his own failures. And for Bruce’s. It all came out that night. All the buried years. All while he held his brother.

  
‘But I didn’t...’ He finally whispered, long after the boy had fallen back into a troubled sleep. ‘I didn’t save you in time.’

  
x.X.x

  
The morning came with an uneasy sunrise washing through the small apartment in Bludhaven. During the night, Dick had gingerly swabbed the inside of Jason’s cheek so that he could run a comparison against the DNA on file.

  
The only problem, was the file was in the Batcave. And Dick wasn’t sure he was ready to explain why he was there.  
Hell, Dick wasn’t sure he could even be there in the first place.

  
Dick watched as Jason dipped his spoon in the cereal bowl with mechanical precision. ‘Listen, Little Wing I have to go out for a few hours, okay?’ He quietly broached. ‘I’ll leave the TV on and a few snacks out in case...damn it, I sound like I’m talking to a cat.’

  
‘Dickface.’

  
‘Yeah, Dickface. Me. I’m leaving but I’ll be back. I promise—I’ll be back.’

  
Jason merely shoved another mouthful of sugary cereal between his lips. ‘Dick-face.’

  
Dick sighed as he stood and grabbed his jacket. ‘I promise I’ll come back.’ He reiterated. ‘Yeah? You’ll stay, right? Um, don’t answer the door or anything, just...yeah. Hopefully no nosy neighbors come by.’ Dick shook his head as he headed for the door. ‘Or gorgeous red-heads. Not yet anyway.’

  
Before he left, he felt in his jeans pocket for the baggie that contained the swab he took the night before from the inside of Jason’s cheek. He wondered in it wouldn’t be a better idea to do some basic Intel first. Scope out Jason’s file. Find out some information as to what may have happened. He could always bullshit his way through an excuse if Bruce found out. Not easily, Dick thought with a frown, but he could. It would be more difficult to explain if he was found with the swab on him.

  
Dick suddenly shoved the swab into his desk drawer and reached for his keys. ‘I’ll be back, okay?’

  
‘Dick-face.’ Jason affirmatively answered through a mouthful of soggy cereal.

 

Dick nodded and smiled despite himself. ‘Well, at least it’s a start.’

  
x.X.x.

 

‘What are you doing here?’

  
The tone wasn’t as cold as he expected. But it wasn’t exactly rolling out the red carpet for him, either. Dick braced himself for the inevitable clash as he drew his eyes to the side. ‘I’m not welcome anymore?’

  
A gruff clearing of a throat echoed behind him. ‘This is your home, Dick.’ Bruce evenly replied. ‘You’re always welcome.’

  
‘No.’ The younger man argued, fighting hard to keep the bitterness from bleeding too heavily into his voice. ‘Up there is my home. Was my home, actually. Not here.’ He drew in a deep breath before asking the one question that had been nudging at his lips for too long. ‘Am I still welcome here?’

  
‘You have to ask?’

  
‘And you have to answer every question with another damn question?’

  
Bruce merely took another step forward, peering at the computer. ‘Intel?’

  
‘Just wrapping up a few loose ends on a case.’

  
‘The ring you busted.’

  
Dick sighed. ‘So you know.’ He shrugged before finally turning around. ‘ _Of course_ you know.’

  
‘You shut down a very large operation.’ Bruce replied, hoping the hint of pride in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. But as usual, it had. ‘Things like that tend to make their way into the news, you know.'

‘You disapprove.’

  
‘There’s no reason to be flashy in our line of work.’ Bruce replied. ‘It brings unnecessary danger.’

  
‘There’s no need for Batman to be flashy.’ Dick corrected edgily. ‘I’m not Batman.’

  
‘What about the boy?’

  
Dick sharply looked up. ‘What boy?’

  
‘Oracle said there was a boy who didn’t match any of the missing children’s descriptions. At least not in the Tri-State area. Did you find out who he is?’

  
‘Not yet.’ Dick lied. It was the second time he had lied about Jason now. And he wasn’t sure why. Lying wasn’t something that came easily to the young man. Though he wore masks, though he flew at night behind one, he didn’t consider that lying. Not in the traditional sense. So this was hard. Especially with Bruce.

  
Especially with Batman.

‘Did you take him home?’

  
‘Not yet.’ The younger man replied as he rose to his feet. He raised his eyes, drawing them to the long set of stairs carved into the cave’s wall that led to the Manor above. ‘But I will.’  
‘I’m sure his family misses him.’

  
This time Dick’s eyes strayed to the glass case that held Jason’s uniform. ‘I know they do.’ The younger man murmured before he swept past his former mentor.  
He wondered if Bruce caught the gesture or the full meaning behind his words. But as usual, the gaze that met his own as he left was as stone. If he had seen through him, he hadn’t let on. Dick left without another word, heading down to where his bike was parked by the entrance of the Cave. If Bruce had questions, he would undoubtedly hear from him soon enough.  
Whether he wanted to or not.

  
‘Well, Dick-face,’ The young hero said as he sped down the interstate on his way back to Bludhaven. ‘What now?’

  
It was crazy. Hell, it was more than crazy. It was fucking bat-shit insane. Dick knew that. Dick understood that. But yet, a part of him wanted to keep Jason. Dick shook his head as his bike zipped in and out of the narrow lanes. He wasn’t a pet. He wasn’t a stray he could train.

  
Like I was to Bruce. Dick thought acridly. Like Jason was to Bruce.

  
But he could help in his own way. Until Jason was…back. Until he was fully healed. Until he was ready to face his past. To face Bruce. Maybe he could help with that.  
Maybe he could do this.

  
He had never really been a mentor to Jason. Not like he thought he should have been. But, in his defense, he had not known about him right away either. But once he had, once that brash little bastard with a lopsided cock-sure grin ran across his path in Robin’s colors, he had never really been the mentor, the brother, he should have been. He tried, of course. Tried to help him deal with the many brooding moods of Batman. And Bruce. But so much had been going on in his life at the time. He and Kory. The Titans. His own insecurity issues.  
His own tentative reconciliation with the Bat Family.

  
But this bravado in his plan was for naught. Because he returned not to the hollow-eyed boy sitting in front of the static of an empty signal on his TV.  
He returned to nothing. To no one. The apartment was empty.

  
Jason was _gone_.

  
After a quick search and then a very thorough one, Dick discovered the boy wasn’t the only thing missing. The swab was gone. In its place, zipped snuggly between the two layers of thick plastic was something else. Dick raised the small bag up to the light and inspected it, a frown marring his face as he recognized just what the small item was.

A fang.

  
What did that mean? What did it represent. Dick scanned his memory for any recollection of such a symbol. Then it popped into his mind. The fang that protects the head. But, where had he heard that before?

  
‘You there, Short Pants?’

  
Dick shoved the bag back into the drawer and cleared his throat. He reached over for his com and slipped it in his ear. ‘For you?’ He answered with what he hoped had been the usual cheer in his voice. ‘Always.’

  
‘Good. Got wind of something going down in your neck of the woods. Ever hear of a guy named Roland Desmond?’

  
‘Roland Desmond ...yep. But let me double-check.’ Dick sat at his desk, his fingers primed over the well-used keyboard.

  
Jason would have to wait.

 

_To be continued..._

*Taken from Nightwing Year One [Chuck Dixon, Scott McDaniel et al] (except for the ‘Dick-face’)

**Author's Note:**

> A while ago, I took down my works because I wasn't sure if I would work on them again. It's been a rough year with illness and other things and I haven't wanted to write in a while. But I am beginning to work on my fics again. I have a second chapter started for this that will hopefully be up soon. I am also working on 'Playing the Angel'; 'Leave Me Lying Here', and a new fic called 'Ten Below' where Dick has gone missing and Jason is recruited to find him. Thanks so much for reading! :)
> 
> *I also want to apologize--some of you wonderful readers reached out to me here or on tumblr after I took my fics down, and I didn't respond. I was in a dark place after being sick and also dealing with losses after my husband and I were trying for a baby. I took down eveything not wanting to write again, but I am wanting to try again as it has always brought me joy to write in the past. So, thank you who reached out to me and I'm happy to be back :)


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